In the book, “Frankenstein,” the creature is fast, sleek, powerful, and intelligent. Far from the grunting beast in the movies, the book creature says things like: “How can I thank you, my best and only benefactor? From your lips first have I heard the voice of kindness directed towards me; I shall be forever grateful; […]
Guns Kill from a Distance
You can stand more than a foot away from someone and still shoot him, right? If so, then why do so many movie and TV show plots hinge on (or at least use as a device) the person being held at gunpoint simply moving kinda quickly and knocking the gun away? I just saw it […]
Google Books is So Good. But Imperfect
I really like Google Books. Lots of times, when I’ve considered buying a book that isn’t in the library, I’ve just read a chapter or two on Google Books and made my decision. Or when trying to remember just the way someone described something, I can find the book and read for myself: “My very […]
Microsoft: Evil Racists?
So in my last post , I mentioned the fact that Microsoft switched out a picture of a black guy for one with a white guy in its Polish print ad. I think the question is whether that’s ok or not. The article I quoted at the time seems to assume that it isn’t. Microsoft […]
BBC Pretends to Have No Sense of Humor
Or should that be “humour”? Anyway, it’s weird (but inevitable) that news reports now quote random bloggers in their news stories. It would be one thing if the blogger replaced the “man in the street” nonsense interview, but it seems as though “the bloggers” are actually considered more than that. But that’s beside the point. […]
Dyson Hand Dryer: "Blades of Glory"
Before eating at a local joint last night, I went to wash my hands. There were three hand-drying options: 1. Paper. 2. Air blower. 3. Slick-looking Dyson hand-dryer. I tried the Dyson and thought that it was mostly stupid. Then I watched a video about it and have revised my opinion. It’s completely stupid. Let’s […]
Opinions Turn to Stone
A petrified object is one that’s made of stone, but looks just like the tree or animal that used to exist before being filled in. The object looks just the same, but it’s hard and heavy and unchanging. In other words, in some very important ways, it’s completely unlike the original tree or animal. I […]
Conjugation
This isn’t a breakthrough or anything, but I’m impressed that two-year-olds know how to conjugate verbs. That is, my daughter doesn’t just use words she hears. She actually changes those words in order to use them in ways that she hasn’t heard. And I know she does this because she makes mistakes on the irregular […]
Zombie? Attack
Scientists have discovered that an attack by zombies would have serious implications on society. For real.
Homeopathy
Dara O’Briain and his feelings on homeopathy and pseudo-science. [link from boingboing.net] In a different clip, he argues against the idea that God created humans exactly as we currently are. His best argument against that idea is that we occasionally bite the insides of our own mouths. “I was so eager to eat that plate […]